House activity
The House passed House Bill (HB) 194 by a vote of 83-10. The bill legalizes and regulates sports gaming and earmarks 98% of the sports gaming profits for education. The House Finance Committee on Wednesday amended and passed the bill. The amendments expanded license eligibility and made nonsubstantive technical and clarifying changes.

The House passed HB 239 by a vote of 78-14. The bill reduces the number of end-of course exams required for graduation from five to four by requiring a new single American history and government exam beginning with the class of 2023. It also requires each school district to form a working group to evaluate the amount of time students spend on testing and prohibits student retention under the third-grade reading guarantee for the 2020-21 school year only. On the House floor, the chamber adopted an amendment to eliminate the requirement for 11th-grade students to take the ACT or SAT tests but allows them to opt in to take the tests.

Finally, the House passed HB 606 by a vote of 84-9 vote. The bill prohibits bringing a civil action for damages for injury, death or loss to person or property against businesses, the state, local governments and schools, among others, if the cause is due to exposure to COVID-19.

Senate activity
The Senate passed Senate Bill (SB) 126 by a vote of 32-1. The bill appropriates $5 million to ESCs to assist with hiring social workers or mental or behavioral health professionals and authorizes a mental health professional to provide a crisis assessment to a suicidal minor without parental consent.

The Senate also passed House Bill (HB) 272 by a vote of 24-8. The bill, which previously dealt with expanding court jurisdiction, was amended on the floor to prohibit a public official from changing the time, place or manner of conducting an election.

House Primary and Secondary Education Committee
The committee held a fourth hearing on HB 367, which requires the state to recommend a job description for school counselors; requires public schools to consider those recommendations when preparing job descriptions and assigning duties for school counselors; and requires the designation of a school counselor liaison at the Ohio Department of Education.

House Ways and Means Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 437, sponsored by Reps. Doug Green (R-Mount Orab) and John M. Rogers (D-Mentor on the Lake), which would permit an enhanced homestead exemption of $50,000 for surviving spouses of uniformed service members who die in the line of duty or whose death is otherwise service connected.

The committee held a third hearing on HB 541, which revises the process for adjusting property values due to instances that result in injury or destruction to the property and increases from $100 to $1,000 the limit by which property valuation deductions may be made in cases of destruction or injury.

Finally, the committee held a third hearing on HB 485, which removes the requirement that owners of farmland enrolled in the Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) program must file a renewal application each year to remain in the program. OSBA, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators provided interested party testimony. Click here to read that testimony.

House State and Local Government Committee
The committee passed HB 450, which requires fiscal officers of school districts, among other local governments, to provide certificates of transition to their successors when leaving office and modifies the duties of school district treasurers to ensure delivery to a treasurer's successor all papers related to the affairs of the district.

House Finance Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 670, sponsored by Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Township), which makes capital reappropriations for certain agencies, including the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, for the biennium ending June 30, 2022.

The committee held a fifth hearing on HB 13, which establishes the residential broadband expansion program.

House Transportation and Public Safety Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 615, sponsored by Reps. Lisa A. Sobecki (D-Toledo) and Joseph A. Miller III (D-Amherst), which allows the installation of protective barriers in school buses using rules adopted by the director of public safety.

House Insurance Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 679, sponsored by Reps. Mark Fraizer (R-Newark) and Adam Holmes (R-Nashport), to establish and modify requirements regarding the provision of telehealth services of school psychologists, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists, among others.

Senate Finance Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on SB 316, sponsored by Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls), which makes capital reappropriations for certain agencies, including the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, for the biennium ending June 30, 2022.

Senate General Government and Agency Review Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on SB 317, sponsored by Sen. William P. Coley, II (R-Liberty Township), which expressly exempts the requirement that peace officer basic training be obtained by certain employees that a board of education authorizes to go armed in a school safety zone.

Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee
The committee held a second hearing on SB 311, sponsored by Sens. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) and Kristina D. Roegner (R-Hudson), which prohibits the governor or any executive agency from prohibiting or limiting in-person high school graduations for the 2019-20 school year; rescinds the April 30 stay-at-home order; and limits all orders issued by the state director of health to 14 days, including the school-closure order, unless approved by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review.

Posted by Nicole Piscitani 05/29/2020